PCI Graphics Card

[LEEnoble]

Hi,

 

I have a Dell Dimension 2350 with 1GB of PC2100 RAM. I'm currently using the onboard graphics, if I add a 128MB PCI Graphics Card, will it make any improvement to the performance of the computer? I only use if for web browsing, documents, music etc no gaming.

 

Also this PC is 5 years old and only has PCI solts, no PCI-E or AGP so has to be a PCI Graphics Card.

 

P.S. The CPU-Z report file for this computer is the one in my signature

 

Thanks

[Keithuk]

I only use if for web browsing, documents, music etc no gaming.

If your only using it for web browsing, documents, music and no gaming why do you want a better graphics card?

Also this PC is 5 years old and only has PCI solts, no PCI-E or AGP so has to be a PCI Graphics Card.

My PC is 10 years old and I have 4 PCI slots and an AGP slot.

[LEEnoble]

If your only using it for web browsing, documents, music and no gaming why do you want a better graphics card?

 

Because I thought it might make things faster if the graphics had it's own dedicated RAM instead of using the system RAM.

 

My PC is 10 years old and I have 4 PCI slots and an AGP slot.

 

We're talking about a Dell here

[DellCA]

While it probably won't make a huge difference on the Dimension 2350, adding a PCI video card should improve the performance of the system. From what you posted you already have the maximum memory supported by the motherboard, so adding more RAM isn't an option.

 

The reason adding the video card would help is that the integrated video needs memory, and the only memory it has available is part of the 1Gb of RAM in the computer. At a minimum it will use 1Mb of memory. You can change that amount in the BIOS (F2 at the Dell splash screen when first powering on). The actual amount of memory used by the video card will vary depending on what you are doing and what Windows allows it to use.

 

If you have any other questions about the system I'll be happy to answer them for you.

 

Larry

Dell Customer Advocate

[Keithuk]

We're talking about a Dell here

No it was a special build 10 years ago.

[crossal]

What Larry said I agree with. It will give you an increase in performance. Not a ton, but some. If the card does not cost too much. Hopefully you have an old card sitting around and are not going to purchase one. If you do go this route, make sure you disable the on-board graphics in BIOS to free up the 8MB or so that it is reserving for the onboard graphics.

[DellCA]

What Larry said I agree with. It will give you an increase in performance. Not a ton, but some. If the card does not cost too much. Hopefully you have an old card sitting around and are not going to purchase one. If you do go this route, make sure you disable the on-board graphics in BIOS to free up the 8MB or so that it is reserving for the onboard graphics.

 

Actually, the motherboard/BIOS should detect the PCI video card and automatically disable the integrated video (and not grab part of the memory). If it does grab the memory still, then I would recommend checking for an updated BIOS. The latest BIOS for the Dim2350 is version A02 from July 2003 (http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/...mp;fileid=70067).

 

I definitely agree with using an existing PCI card instead of going out and buying one. While you can buy them still, the fact that not many people use them any more might actually drive the price up (since they are getting hard to find). If you don't have one, I'd recommend checking with whoever your "computer geek" friends are since, like me, they probably have a box of old hardware that they just haven't gotten around to throwing out.

 

Larry

Dell Customer Advocate

[New_Age]

this may work Link 1 Link 2 Better then nothing.

[LEEnoble]

Thanks all, going to see if I can find one for free going spare from someone, if not, I'll buy one cheap from eBuyer or Komplett.